The Matzav Shmoooze: Calendar Conundrum

As school ends in many areas and kids start going to camp, I am curious how this summer’s schedule is going to play out in various communities. Because of the way the calendar is, we are holding in Tammuz already, with the 17th of Tammuz next week. Tisha B’Av falls in the middle of July and Rosh Chodesh Elul is in early August.

How will camps be dealing with this? I imagine that bochurim will have to go to their respective yeshivos come Elul, so what will camps be doing about counselors for the second half?

Also, some camps are ending earlier than usual. Will schools be starting earlier? If they are not, how much time will there even be before Rosh Hashana arrives? I imagine not much.

I am interested in hearing from Matzav readers how this unique and challenging calendar schedule will be playing out in their areas. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions to make it less challenging, please share them here.

I live in Brooklyn, so yeshivos are starting at the end of August. Yet, the mishigas about starting either Mesifta or Bais Medrash on Rosh Chodesh Elul has gotten way out of control. With the challenges that face each and every individual on a constant basis, there is no reason to deprive a teenager with the opportunity to attend a camp, where often they can accomplish certain things that could not be accomplished in yeshiva. I personally was a counselor for a few summers, and the ‘sipuk’ that i had from it was extraordinary. I realized then how much obe individual means in the life of a child. It prepared me to be a parent to my children. It seems to me that every yeshiva wants to show that we have elite bochurim and hence start Elul. We are not living in the days of gronda or Radin where this was normal.

Basicaly what was done 4 years ago when the calendar came out the same way. The camps and day camps get specifically guys who are going to college or in part time beis mecdrash for the end of the summer. Plus if the day camps are running the schools are not. And starting a few days before rosh hashana does not make it that they loos a month of school as there is 2 adars this year so you make it up that way. The year is the same as any other year think about it.

I have thought about this question as well. Many bad things happen in the summer usually because there is less torah learning going on and thereby less protection. I believe that the camps are destroying the yeshivos. The camps start early cutting down the entire summer zman and then go into elul which destroys and elul zman as well. Therefore due to the camps almost all yeshivas shut down from after shavuos until rosh hashana or succos time. The seforim say that half of tammuz was given to eisav- I think this to has changed and it is until labor day. The camps dictate when people leave yeshivos and return. Obviously these places are not motivated by money- I wonder how things will look in the olam haemes when all the masks are removed and we see these people being removed from their yeshivos or kollelim for so many months at a time. If go away from Hashem for 1 day he goes away for 2 days. How many months do people move away from Hashem for the summer months?